The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-09-13
VACATION SLAMS.
THE PROXIMITY OF THE POPULAR
PREACHER TO "BREAK DOWN."

A Man should Take . Holiday When
ever He Can Consistently Do So
But 1t is Possible to Overdo the
Thing.
OF course you will not understand me a
believing that vacation is in itself sham, OF
Is thinking that a paan should not take q
holiday whenever he can consistently do so.
I only mean that some OF the developments
and suggestions of the subject are strongly
Favored with humbug.
heard lady talking the other day about
the withdrawal of her pastor from his pulpit
for recreative purposes. What she said i'm
pressed me, because l thought it presented
the whole subject of growing ministerial in.
trinity and the recurring necessity for periods
of rest
SYes," said she, "he is going away for
three or four months. To be sure, there are
business men who will remain in town almost
The whole of the summer and work hard to
help to pay his salary along with their other
other expenses. But then, Of course, you
know they are not expected to break down
They haven't time for that. There are in our
church men now growing old who never had
more than two weeks vacation in all their
lives. When I was young many people
thought themselves very fortunate to get
even that What is there in the constitution
Of a preacher that makes it necessary for him
20 suspend luis occupation for a good part of
:he year"
did not answer her because, among other
reasons, I thought she had already answered
herself to her own satisfaction.
TYPE OF CLASS.
No doubt you have heard of the clergyman
perhaps this is q chestnut, though it is not
.he less apt on that account-who had sue
cumbed to periodical prostration and gone to
The Adirondacks His congregation had not
only given him leave of absence and hired
somebody to do his work, but had also fur
aished him with a sum of money for expenses.
I believe that is considered good form in
such cases. One day after his arrival at the
north woods the Rev. Mr.. - was politely
requested to ask blessing at the table
Excuse me-" was the reply. 81 promised
nv people that would perform no labor
while away"
The tender ecclesiastical plant was only an
extreme type of well ascertained class The
engines of war vessel built by private con-
tract for the debihtated navy of the United
States do not get out of order with more
punctuality, nor the ship more regularly go
into the dry dock, than does the gifted and
greatly beloved divine feel himself generally
run down" and find it necessary to lie up for
repairs
Lying up for repairs usually consists in
going off somewhere and having good time
BE must lie up at least two months Of the
twelve. and every few years he is compelled
to double the recess in order to thoroughly
have a time adequately good. The period
consumed in putting in q new intellectual
boiler and patching up the physical seams
and leakages, SO that he may come back to
ego in and out" and to "teach" with more
acceptance" than ever, has been gradually
expanding for years.
I believe several of the highest priced
preachers of New York pass several months
Of every year on the other side of the At
antic.
CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE.
1t Is conclusive evidence on the subject that
in the earlier time ministers vacations were
unheard Of VIII anybody venture to assert
that their labors were less severe than those
Of their succsssorsf The hard headed old
preachers used to deliver three discourses on
q Sunday, every one Of them twice or thrice
as long as the thirty or forty minutes essay
which is now customary. There was, in ad-
dition to this, church work for them which
would stagger a contemporaneous parson
who "loafs and invites his soul" on the sands
or among the hills. Many of them, too, were
glad to teach or turn their hands to anything
which promised to exc out slender living.
In fact, they were too busy to 'break
down" or to yield to nervous prostration" or
TO entertain "a bronchial affection"-or to
take vacation To say that the easy going
pulpiteer of to-day is harder worked and
really requires more frequent rest and re-
pairs Is, Of course, absurd on the face Of
things
Now and then q clergyman takes honest
ground on the matter. He frankly says:
II am quite able to preach still-all sum-
mer il necessary. But my parishioners for
the most part go out of town during the hot
weather. Why should stay when they are
away2 Is it worth while for me to get up
every Sunday and address a beggarly ac-
count o empty pews, even if my church is
not closed, as my trustees always order it To
be-"
This position is at least ineligible, al
though it invites some queer reflections. I
don't object to this hypothetical divine's tax
ing vacation. / don't object to anybody's
taking one whenever he can reasonably get
chance. Only let us treat the matter sincerely
and without indulging in can't.
1t is only fair to say that the rest and re-
creation humbug is not peculiar to the popu-
lar preacher and his admirers. Times have
changed elsewhere than in the pulpit.
A vast deal Of nonsense is printed and
spoken about cutting down the period Of toll,
about eight hour laws and about an increased
number of legal holidays There is nothing
TO show that men and women were any worse
of, intellectually, physically and morally,
half a century ago, when they thought far
less of these things.-Brooklyn Eagle.
Promptly Explained.
''Why is it." said husband to his wife,
''that married women, as rule, are such ter
rible gosSipers?'